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Tips On Crafting Love Scenes by Dani Collins

Please welcome author Dani Collins
with her tips for writing Love Scenes. This is Part 2. Part 1 of
Crafting Love Scene tips is onHappy Ever After. Check HEA for more tips!

Tips For Writing Love Scenes Part 2

1) Language

This is publisher driven. If
you’re writing for yourself, use all the naughty words you want. Last year, I
was reading a fellow author in Harlequin Presents (M&B Modern/Sexy in
UK/Aus). I came across a word that rhymes with ‘clock.’ I was shocked! Not
because the word offends me, but because we don’t use graphic language in a
Presents. I contacted her and she admitted that it had been a copy editing
error that allowed it. She wasn’t likely to get away with it again.

If the thought of being held back
with your language raises your hackles, find a publisher who lets you write
what you like. I grew up reading Presents and feel one hundred percent
comfortable with euphemisms. But sometimes I like to hit an F-sharp and I can
do that in my novellas for Montana Born.

2) Size matters

I’ve written pages and pages to
spell out the progression of a love scene and I’ve lifted a skirt in one
sentence.

An Heir To Bind Them opens with a
rather long love scene because Jaya is making love for the first time and was
sexually assaulted in the past. She wasn’t planning to have sex with Theo so it
starts with a goodbye kiss. That leads to fooling around and finally they take it
to the bedroom.

I wanted to show how she was
overcoming very natural and real reservations and why Theo was the perfect man
for her. (Patient, respectful, honest.) To ring true for me, her trust needed
to build in increments.

In other cases, where my purpose
is to show that the characters have plateaued in a happy place of sexual
compatibility, but they still have work to do on the relationship, I keep
things short.

I keep saying this, but like
every other scene, go into more detail when you’re at a turning point or the
stakes are high. The more important any scene is to the overall story, the more
words you lay down.

3) Maintaining sexual tension

This is tough! Don’t kid yourself
that it’s easy, especially if your characters have already had sex. But here’s
the trick: it’s tension. Your character is being pulled into two directions. On
the one hand, sexual pleasure, yay! Of course your character wants that. Now,
what’s drawing your character away from that?

Sometimes the other end of this
balance is external: a plot element like career or a child or whatever goal
your character is trying to accomplish. Sometimes it’s internal. Your hero
believes he’s not good enough for the heroine. She is convinced he’s not as
emotionally invested as she is and wants to self-protect by resisting him.

Done right, you can actually have
terrific tension when they already know how good the sex can be.

4) Setting

Set the scene and make the
setting relevant. For my Presents, I try to sprinkle the fairy dust of luxury
into every scene, especially the first kiss and first lovemaking. Readers pick
up Presents for the fantasy of exotic locations and glamorous lifestyles.

But I have a love scene in
Hustled To The Altar set in the basement of a hotel. I deliberately went there
because my characters are digging deep into the sludge of their souls. They shouldn’t be coming together when Renny
is technically engaged to another man. It’s a very low thing that they’re doing
so I put them at the bottom of an elevator shaft. It’s also a comedy, so I got
away with it.

Which brings us to:

5) Tone

In my Presents, emotion and drama
are paramount. I use angsty language and the sex, even when it’s great, is
devastating on some level. There’s a bit of room for playfulness, but I usually
save that tone for later love scenes and my other stories, like the Montana
Born novellas.

Above all, remember that you’re
writing romance. You can be earthy, but the ‘ideal’ version of earthy. However
your characters are coming together, make it romantic enough that your reader
releases a breathy sigh of satisfaction when it’s over.

Award winning author Dani Collins
wrote for twenty-five years before selling to Harlequin Mills & Boon in May
of 2012. Since then, she’s turned in more than a dozen titles to Harlequin
Presents, two erotic romances to HarlequinE and four sexy, small-town novellas
to Tule’s Montana Born. She has even found homes for some of her previously
rejected manuscripts, including indie-publishing her single title romantic
comedy, Hustled To The Altar and signing with a small press for her medieval
fantasy, The Healer.

Dani doesn’t have any hobbies.
She’s too busy writing. Her current releases include, Seduced Into The Greek’s
World, a June print and ebook from Harlequin Presents and His Blushing Bride
from Montana Born, an ebook that can be found on most major platforms.

Stay current with Dani’s new
releases by joining her newsletter or visiting her here:

Every woman has a fantasy she only dares dream about
in the dead of night. But for single mom Natalie Adams, the reality of an
affair in Paris with infamous billionaire Demitri Makricosta surpasses even her
wildest dreams!

Demitri is astounded by fiery Natalie. One night
isn't enough, so to quench his lust he insists she become his mistress. The
closer Natalie gets to emotions Demitri has kept locked away, the more he
distracts her with dazzling gifts and luxury holidays to ensure that seduction
remains the only thing between them…

I guess there are lots of different levels of heat and language in erotica and romance, so writers just need to find the house that publishes what they want to write. That could be true for many genres if we just do our research. Thanks for the article!

So true, Lexa! But it can be tricky, too. I have a friend who writes medicals for Harlequin and they can write as sweet or hot as they want, so in that line it's really about the reader finding the author who writes the heat level she likes. But you're right about the best thing being that you should write what works for you then try to find the place that heat level fits. Thanks for commenting!

It's a really hard thing to do right, probably much more so than most people would realise! I'm not a romance writer but I still think your tips are great. I have incorporated some love scenes but I'm no expert at them!